bubbagum

I was the other guy. I was a bit hesitant since I don't really need the gun. You got a great deal. Looks to be in good shape. The Dawson base plates and Brazos mag release button leads me to believe that the owner made reasonable upgrades. You can get great deals when things are sold by pawnshops but it is always a bit of a gamble. You may find there are a ton of internal upgrades...or you may not; either way it was a good deal.

I have all three of those barrels and I would pick the Glock first, kkm second, and Lone Wolf third. Since you already have a Glock barrel I would stick with that. The KKM seems to be of better quality than the Lone Wolf but they all shoot fine. I like the looser chamber of the Glock and actually opened up the lone wolf a bit so it would feed heavy bullets a bit better. I polished my Glock barrel up one day when I was bored and it even looks better than the other two.

Digital read out

I have a bunch of the Dawson 10 round 9mm mags. They work great; better than any others I have tried. They work well with the Dawson Ice Magwells too.

and no grooves. Makes getting a consistant grip more difficult.

Why titanium. Makes no sense to use a light metal. Why not steel; cheaper and heavier?

The only reason I see to get a Gen 4 is if you shoot production and the Gen 3 grips don't fit your hand well. If shooting any other class I would take off the finger grooves, have a grip reduction if needed, and have frame stippled. Glock grips have always felt good in my hands so I see no reason to get a Gen 4. If they offered one with no finger grooves and a texture like my stippled ones I may be tempted but I would only want grip changes and nothing done to internals...Glocks worked fine before the Gen 4.

I radius the ramp and chamber like want2race said. It may be an extractor issue but I figure a little smoother entry into the chamber can't do anything but help.

I don't really clean my barrel. I clean the chamber out but definitely don't run a brush down the barrel. if I get crazy and decide I need to clean I just put a little hoppes on a patch and run it through. Unless you are shooting lead the bore stays pretty clean and I think messing with it daily often does more harm than good.

I have a heine fixed rear sight and it looks a lot like my Glock Sevigny sights. I like the deeper notch of the Sevignys and the shallow notch on the Bomar sights. Warren should make some Sevigny 1911/2011 sights; it would make switching between guns a bit more seamless.

Is the 75b a decent way to see if you like CZs. I have been shooting a g17 and g34. I want a heavier gun that feels more like my 1911s and limited guns. I can pick up a 75b for nearly nothing, try out, and resell for the same price if I decide I want a shadow or don't want a CZ at all. Is the CZ 75b trigger bad out of the box or jst not as good as it can be. I don't mind Glock triggers so I am not that picky but it would be nice if the SA could feel something like a 1911. Is the double action reset similar to a Glock or M&P?

Your SS gun is fine; don't a second single stack gun and duplicate what you already have. If you ever want to upgrade you Trojan you can have some slide work done and refinished for a couple hundred bucks..no need for a new gun. Get a Limited gun and try something new. If you get another 1911 you will probably sell your Trojan and end up buying another gun anyways, but with less money to spend.

13# ISMI spring works perfectly for me. If shooting major loads a 15# might work better but for normal 9mm loads 13# works great.

technetium-99m I too was able to do most everything on my little micro-lux. I had no problem doing sight mounts, fitting slides, done a few high power cuts and ball mill cuts. Cutting Cold style serrations was no problem. I never liked doing STI style serrations on the machine though because mine always looked a ouch ragged. With patience these little mills can do a lot. The point I was trying to make is that if you choose a little mill the cost of the actual mill soon becomes forgotten; when you have $3000 invested in rotary table, vices, cutting tools, arbors, measuring tools, etc. the difference between a $500 mill and a &1000 don't seem so big. I sold my little mill for the same price I bought it for and put the money into a bigger machine. Setting up is much easier on the bigger machine and I don't need to make as many passes. I would watch Craigslist since I see one or two little mills sell each month. They sell for the same price as new but often include a couple thousand dollars worth of accessories. I bought my little one for $600 but it had a rotary table ($300), vice ($150), face mill ($75), boring head (100), and 200 or so milling bits ($1500?). I eventually sold the mill but came out way ahead on the deal. Buying a mill is like buying a gun. They seem expensive but hold their value well. If you buy used and sell used you often end up losing nothing.

Just search Google for "Micro Mill 1911" or "Micro Mill gunsmithing" and you will see the pros and cons. I have seen a lot of good work done with Micro Mills only but it is a lot harder. They are not very rigid and therefore it is hard to get clean cuts. Even when bolted down to a strong bench they flex and twist a bit too much for me. A micro mill is definately better than no mill though. They are cheap and can easily be sold for what you buy them for. I had one and am not sorry I had it. I sold mill for a decent amount and already had a load of tooling when I got a bigger mill. They are nice for the money.

@RIIID The gun I was looking at was one of yours. I ended up buying it and got the gun today. You do great work; this gun is perfect. The frame feels perfect in my big hands. 1911s always felt a bit off but the wider frame and square front strap feel perfect.

Comparison chart of mini mills http://www.littlemachineshop.com/Info/minimill_compare.php You most likely will wreck a few things learning on these little machines. They can cutt serrations, even cut sight dovetails with a few passes but they chatter quite a bit. The Rong Fu mills are worth looking into too if you want something a bit bigger. I started with a MicroLux mill and have a mid sized Grizzly now. I would never go smaller again. I find the midsized mills are big enough for me and move enough I don't want to tote around a Bridgeport.

The Harbor frieght is the same machine as the little grizzly, Microlux, etc. Nice little machine. you can do most everything with enough patience but they chatter a lot and you have to make a ton of passes. If you have the space find a used Bridgeport for 1500 or so..you wont be sorry. If you buy a sieg you will end up getting a second mill. the bigger Sieg is a bit better but still a bit too flimsy for production work. With patience they can make nice stuff. Look at the practical machinist sight and search for 1911s.

I would get an STI Spartan. The SA Range officer is a good choice too. STI and Sprigfield are great companies to deal with if something goes wrong.

I had never heard anything good about the Lone Wolf comp. I figured I would shoot once and order an aluminum comp. Maybe the Lone Wolf works better in a 40sw than in a 9mm. Whatever the reason is works well on this gun.

The Spartan is a great gun for the price. It is not nearly as nice as their Trojan but for $300 less I wouldn't expect it to be; for the price it can't be beat. Great quality, brand name, and STI is a nice company to deal with. If you ever want work done on it you are starting with a great gun, a lot of times when you buy a gun with all the bells and whistles you later find out that you wanted different whistles. I like starting with a simple gun, shooting it for a while, and then seeing if there is anything I would like to have modified. I think the Spartan is a great choice.

Woohoo. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have a heavy ice magwell but my left hand pinky still has nothing to index off of. I have always loved the look of those cape magwells but they were a bit short in front for me. I have been trying to find the right magwell for a while and so far the Dawson's have been the best but I am headed to see if these are available right now. Finally someone made something for those of us with bigger than normal hands.